The way that justice is meted out in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure seems to be at the same time inflexible and arbitrary. Near the beginning of the play, young Claudio is sentenced to death for having slept with his fiancée, Juliet, and Juliet is now pregnant. The law is that Claudio should be executed for this behavior, and no one seems to question Claudio’s death sentence except Claudio’s sister, Isabella, who pleads with Angelo―the Duke’s stern, uncompromising deputy―to spare her brother’s life.
Angelo agrees to spare Claudio’s life if Isabella will sleep with him. The inflexible judgment and punishment that Angelo initially imposed on Claudio is bargained with by Angelo to achieve his own personal objectives regarding Isabella.
The question posed by Angelo’s behavior is whether a government, through its representatives―such as the merciless, self-righteous, seemingly virtuous but actually lecherous Angelo―has a right to legislate and regulate morals and also a right to pass judgment and impose punishment on men and women for moral failings, particularly when the person passing judgment and imposing punishment is guilty of moral failings of their own.
Near the end of the play, Angelo is held accountable for his behavior toward Claudio and Isabella, and Duke Vincentio sentences him to death. When Claudio is revealed to be still alive (as a result of the Duke’s intervention in his execution), the Duke pardons Claudio and Angelo. Rather than strictly apply the law to Claudio and Angelo, Duke Vincentio makes a purely arbitrary decision to spare both their lives.
In Measure for Measure, Shakespeare seems to advocate justice tempered with mercy, compassion, and an understanding of the human condition and tolerance of human failings rather than a strict, inflexible interpretation of laws, especially when the laws are inherently unjust and the person imposing the law is just as fallible and human as the people on whom they propose to pass judgment and impose punishment.
In Measure for Measure, what types of justice are criticized and idealized?
In Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, we clearly see the kinds of justice that do not work and the kinds of justice that do. Let's look at this in more detail.
At the beginning of the play, Duke Vincentio is lax in his enforcement of justice in Vienna, and this leads to chaos. He has been a bit too merciful, and now the citizens are taking advantage of that mercy and becoming corrupt in their morals. This is the wrong kind of justice, for it lacks balance.
The Duke decides to make some reforms in his city, but he does not want to enforce them himself, realizing that citizens will not take him seriously. So he leaves Angelo to act in his place, disguises himself as a friar, and watches what happens.
Angelo goes in the opposite direction of the Duke. He enforces the law harshly and stringently. There is no exception, no compassion, no attempt to understand individual situations. This, too, is the wrong kind of justice, and it also lacks balance. There is no mercy involved.
By the end of the play, the Duke has realized what kind of justice works for Vienna. It is a balanced kind of justice that both enforces the law and takes into consideration people's real lives and situations. Claudio and Juliet are freed to marry. Lucio ends up in jail. Angelo is sentenced to death but freed by the pleading of Isabella and Mariana (who truly understand the concepts of justice and mercy).
How does Measure for Measure critique and idealize different forms of justice?
Measure for Measure criticizes justice that is too strict or too lax, and advocates moderate, proportionate justice as, if not ideal, at least the best solution available.
The title of the play suggests the playwright's attitude. Justice must be proportionate, and the punishment must fit the crime. To condemn Claudio to death for a legal technicality is clearly extreme and unreasonable, particularly when the city is full of far worse cases of immorality. Even if Angelo were not a hypocrite, his conduct would be unjust.
Critics of the Measure for Measure are united in condemning Angelo and his harshness, but Shakespeare also shows that Duke Vincentio's lax application of the law is far from ideal. The corruption of Lucio, Mistress Overdone, and Pompey shows the result of the duke's excessive tolerance. Vienna has become rife with disease and crime, and Angelo's harsh application of the law is required as a corrective. One extreme leads to the other, and the sanest course of action is to arrive at a sensible midpoint, where vice is punished, but those who fail to follow the letter of the law are not persecuted.
How does Measure for Measure handle justice, and what types does it criticize or idealize?
Shakespeare's Measure for Measure revolves around the concepts of justice and mercy. While some characters believe that anyone who commits a crime should be punished for it in one way or another ("the measure you give will be the measure you get"), others believe that some sinners and wrongdoers can be forgiven. Thus, the play presents the contrast—or rather, the balance—between merciful justice and merciless justice.
Isabella is a very religious and virtuous woman who asks for mercy for her brother, who has been sentenced to death for sleeping with an unmarried woman and leaving her pregnant. Isabella doesn't approve of his actions but pleads for his life out of love and devotion. She represents merciful justice.
Angelo is a strict, merciless man who believes that the law determines whether or not a person should be punished and that everyone should deal with the consequences of their actions, including himself, as he falls into temptation and lusts after Isabella. He represents merciless justice.
Shakespeare actually criticizes both types of justice and suggests that the ideal justice is a combination of the two—a system in which justice and mercy are perfectly balanced; a system that respects and follows the law as well as the Christian notions of mercy and forgiveness.
Get Ahead with eNotes
Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.
Already a member? Log in here.